



I ■ o 




«bv* :&M%&:* *w 




• ■ •• 




o J* 

*!^L% * V 




V^'V 









o . * . , • • v> 




THE ADDRESS 

OF 

T. W. BARTLEY, 



BEFOKE 



The Jefferson National Monument 
Association. 

Delivered October 10, 1882. 




ADDRESS OF JUDGE BARTLEY. 



The Jefferson National Monumental Association 
met on the evening of October 16th, 1882, in the 
Corcoran Building, when Chief-Justice D. K. Cartter 
was elected President, and Dr. J. M. Toner Vice-President. 

After some preliminary proceedings, Judge T. W. 
Bartley was requested to explain the object of the 
Association. In response to this request, 

Judge Bartley said: 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Association : 

In compliance with the request of the corporators, I 
submit the following exposition of their object and pur- 
poses. 

A monument to Thomas Jefferson at the capital of the 
United States, will be not merely a tribute to the memory 
of an illustrious statesman and patriot of the American 
Revolution, but also a memorial of a great achievement 
in the progress of free institutions. It was a noted re- 
mark of Daniel Webster, that in the formation of our 
political system a great advance was made in the science 
of government. 

While Washington was pre-eminently the military 
leader in the war of the Revolution, Jefferson was pre- 
eminently the statesman who conceived and formulated 
the fundamental principles of our government. The 
minds of the people were deeply impressed, indeed, be- 
came indoctrinated with the essential principles of civil 
liberty, by the declaration " that all men. are created equal 
and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 
rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness ; and that to secure these rights governments 



are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from 
the consent of the governed ; and that whenever any form 
of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the 
right of the people to alter or abolish it, and institute a new 
government," &c. This proclamation of human rights 
and political equality awakened down-trodden man from 
his stupor like the angelic announcement, " On earth, 
peace and good will to man.'" It animated and sustained 
the people of the United Colonies in their long sufferings 
and arduous struggle for their liberties and independence. 
It electrified the people of France, and after a long series 
of revolutions has resulted in a republican form of gov- 
ernment in that country. It roused the people of Mexico 
and South America to a sense of their rights, and stimu- 
lated them in their struggles for the security of their 
liberties. And it has gradually broken the chains of 
slavery, and greatly mitigated the rigor and oppression 
of tyrannical governments in other parts of the world. 

Trace the course of the political development of nations, 
and the progress of free institutions through the history 
of ancient and of modern times and no instance can be 
found, in which the doctrine of Mian's original rights and 
liberty was so strikingly formulated and presented to the 
understanding of mankind until this announcement from 
the pen of Jefferson, which was proclaimed by the au- 
thority of the United Colonies, and maintained by the 
arbitrament of arms. And the grandeur of this achieve- 
ment in the progress of free government has not yet 
reached its full development, Jefferson, in drafting his 
immortal declaration of human rights, planted the standard 
of liberty upon American soil, to cheer and animate the 
hopes of civilized man throughout the world. And a 
monument to him will stand as a beacon-light in the on- 
ward progress of free institutions, declaring the equality 
of all men in a political point of view, as to life, liberty 
and the pursuit of happiness, that civil government de- 



rives its just powers from the consent of the governed, and 
that its true objects are the security and protection of all 
in their rights equally and alike. And this fundamental 
principle of our political system has placed the people of 
the United States in the forefront in the onward progress 
of popular development and free government. 

It is no less than a duty, which our people owe to them- 
selves and to the cause of civil liberty, to erect a suitable 
monument to the illustrious patriot who formulated with 
such perspicuity the vital principle in man's elevation and 
the world's progress. And every citizen who is capable of 
appreciating our political system must take a pride in 
having his name inscribed, as a contributor of some 
amount, upon the records of such a national memorial. 
Let it be reared in an appropriate form to such an alti- 
tude that the first rays of the morning sun shall play 
upon its summit, and reflect its light even upon the most 
benighted regions of the world. And it will stand as an 
enduring testimonial to the latest generations of mankind 
of the great proclamation of human rights, and of the 
highest honor that can be ascribed to the name of the 
American people. 

A stranger from a foreign land in passing through the 
beautiful streets and avenues of Washington, and observ- 
ing the many statues which adorn our public grounds 
almost exclusively devoted to military and naval heroes, 
would rationally conclude that our people were worship- 
pers of military heroes and devotees of military renown, 
and either without men of great eminence in civil life, 
or destitute of a just estimate of wisdom and statesmanship 
in their public affairs. Let this misconception be cor- 
rected by commencing with an appropriate monument to 
the author of the immortal declaration of human rights, 
upon which our institutions were founded 

The enemies of political progress have expended much 
hypereriticism upon the Declaration of American Inde- 



pendence. They have said, that the statement therein, 
" that all men are created equal " was a manifest fallacy. 
But that this is a perversion of a self-evident truth is 
easily shown. It is not said in the declaration that all 
men are created equal in physical strength, or in intellec- 
tual powers, or adventitious circumstances. But the equa- 
lity affirmed has express reference to the political status 
of men. The meaning of words in any instrument, even 
in Holy Writ, can be correctly understood and interpre- 
ted only by reference to the subject-matter, the rational 
intent, and their connection with the other language in 
which they are used. The subject-matter of the Declara- 
tion of Independence was the separation of the people of 
the Colonies from the British government, and the estab- 
lishment of a new and independent government for them- 
selves. And the equality of men here affirmed is con- 
nected with and has direct reference to, 1st, the inalien- 
able rights of man, among which are life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness ; 2d, the security of these rights by 
the institution of government ; and 3rd, the just powers of 
government being derived from the consent of the gov- 
erned. It is true, the condition of equality affirmed is 
general in terms, but it is directly followed by and con- 
nected with a specification of the political rights and 
functions of government to which it applies. If instead 
of the appropriate style used in the declaration, the style 
of a legal couveyance or judicial pleading had been 
adopted, the phraseology would have been as follows : 
All men are created equal in this, to wit, that the} 7 are 
equally endowed by their creator with certain inalienable 
rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness ; and that to secure these rights equally to all, 
governments are instituted among men ; and that gov- 
ernments derive their just powers from the consent of the 
governed equally and alike. 

But in the style in which the declaration was written, 



the immediate context, the subject-matter and reasonable 
intent, furnish the interpretation of the language used. 
Thus all men are created equal as to their inalienable rights 
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ; equal as to 
their rights to the protection of their government ; and 
equal as to being the original source from which the just 
powers of the government are derived. And in these 
regards no man or class of men can have a superiority 
over others. In this sense the truths declared are self-evi- 
dent. This declaration was a repudiation of the absurd doc- 
trine of the divine right of kings> and of orders of nobility, 
and distinctions of the people into classes as to their polit- 
ical rights. 

Every distinguished public man has to suffer from the 
slander and detraction of the jealous and the malevolent. 
Of this Jefferson had his full share, and the malevolence 
of his enemies was not even abated by his death, and per- 
haps to this day it has not lost all its rancour. 

That Jefferson was not only a jurist of learning and 
ability, but a profound scholar and thorough statesman, 
as well as a man of marked originality of thought, all 
must admit. And his works, published by Congress since 
his death, show that he had to a great extent mastered 
the entire circle of science and literature. He had one of 
the best libraries in the country at his day, which was 
purchased by the Government for the Congressional Li- 
brary. 

In the Colonial Congress there was a concentration of 
leading minds, and numerous public men of great ability 
and research, and among them Jefferson stood pre-eminent • 
To such extent did he have the confidence of that body 
that he was by common consent entrusted with the most 
important business of drafting the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, which, although subjected to the severest 
scrutiny and criticism before its adoption, was but slightly 
changed. Among the great men of the American Revo- 



6 

lution it was acknowledged by all, that Jefferson had 
studied most profoundly the nature of civil government 
and the rights of man. And in drafting the declaration, 
although there was necessarily much, especially in the 
recitation of the grievances against the British Govern- 
ment, that was common and similar to what was said in 
the public discussions of the day, yet in declaring man's 
equality and inalienable rights, and the true objects and 
source of the powers of government, Jefferson formulated 
the fundamental rights of man and the nature of civil 
government in a style in which they had never been pre- 
sented before, and in a manner which commanded uni- 
versal assent. That declaration of human rights and the 
nature of civil government has given immortality to 
Jefferson's name, and brought untold benefits and undying 
honor to the American people. 

Under the British Government, all power and authority 
are derived from the monarch, in which it is held sov- 
ereignty resides. But Jefferson declared it to be a self- 
evident truth, that government legitimately instituted 
was for the benefit and protection of the governed, and 
that its just powers are derived from the people, and that 
sovereignty resides in them. And this is the theory of 
our Government, first proclaimed in the Declaration of 
Independence. 

Blackstone, in bis Commentaries on the Laws of England, 
has traced the rights and liberties of the English people 
from the numerous grants and franchises extorted from 
the British Crown, commencing with Magna Charia. 
granted in the reign of King John. And these immu- 
nities thus obtained, this standard commentator has sum- 
med up to consist in the rights of personal security, 
personal liberty, and private property, which is character- 
ized as " the birth-right of the English people." 
. Jefferson was the first to announce these great essential 
rights of civil liberty, the rights to life, liberty, and the 



pursuit of happiness (which are equivalent to the rights 
of personal security, personal liberty, and private property), 
as the inalienable rights of the people; and that as to them 
all men are equal. That which in England consisted in 
immunities and grants from the British Crown, on 
Jefferson's doctrine, originated with the governed in this 
country, and became the inalienable rights of the Ameri- 
can people. 

Jefferson's idea was, that the blessings of government, 
like the dews of heaven, should fall equally and alike upon 
all, the rich and the poor, the great and the small; in 
other words, that Government in its true majesty was the 
harmony of the State, all men paying it homage, the least 
as feeling its care and the greatest as not exempt from its 
power. 

In conclusion, permit me to sa}^, that a national monu- 
ment in commemoration of Jefferson and his public ser- 
vices would stand as an enduring memorial not only to the 
statesman and patriot, but also to the cause of civil 
liberty and political progress. 



' VWV V^<V* V-»V % 




> ^ • 






^ 



^\*J^%*v, .v N \!;>.\ /,!ik:/^ ^ 



%/ : 







+ ♦TXT** A. ^ *^.?* (? *o, *;*XT» A « 









4 o 
























• A <* 'o.» 




^°<* 









* < 






9 ^ 




WERT 



A<ti&. m 



.PA 



• " • • *b 4* 4 







